Bush Administration Denies Efforts to Attack Birth Control

Washington, DC - Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued the following statement in response to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt's attempt to distance the department from a proposed draft regulation that would block women's access to birth control, as reported by The Associated Press.

"It is clear that, in the face of growing public outrage over this attack on birth control, the Bush administration is trying to back track," Keenan said. "Bush and his political appointees have a long, long record of attacks on contraception, so Secretary Leavitt's claim that the department never intended to target birth control isn't believable. We will continue to engage our activists and work with leaders in Congress to stop this administration from pushing a last-ditch attack on birth control as Bush prepares to leave the White House."

Keenan said her organization, which was cited in the original July 15 article in The New York Times about the proposed regulation, has generated more than 28,000 messages to Congress urging lawmakers to take action against the proposed regulation.